"Hey…" Angela was the last person to join the group on the lab platform in response to Cam's summons. She smiled knowingly as Brennan darted a surreptitious glance at her watch. Having also caught Brennan's motion, Hodgins flashed Angela a faint smile.
He adopted a sober expression as Cam scanned her team and then quietly requested updates. Starting with Brennan and Wendell, Cam glanced across the exam table at them and asked bluntly, "So, what have you guys come up with so far?"
"There was massive damage to the skull caused by the gunshot wound to the head. It left a good portion of the frontal portion intact, but without access to the skull itself…" Brennan began.
"Understood…" Cam wasn't ready to have either Brennan or Wendell start lamenting the lack of first-hand evidence if she didn't have to, so she cut in, "What are we looking at with what we do have?"
Wendell glanced at Brennan who nodded for him to go ahead with the explanation. With a nod, Wendell hung one of the X-rays up on a lighted viewing panel. "Well…most notable are impact fractures in a line from here…" He pointed as he spoke, "And here…to here." He glanced around at the other people in the room as he explained, "They suggest blunt force trauma to the victim's head prior to the gunshot wound."
"Blunt force trauma…" Cam nodded before asking, "A fist? Or something else?"
"The nature of the fractures does not appear to be consistent with a fist." Brennan stepped in to clarify, "A weapon much harder than that would be more probable."
"The gun maybe?" Hodgins turned a querying glance on Brennan and Wendell both as he asked, "Could they have come from him being pistol-whipped?" Next to Brennan, Angela winced at the thought.
Brennan shook her head, quietly expounding, "The damage to both the sphenoid and the supraorbital process indicate something substantially longer than a gun barrel and of slightly larger diameter."
"Hmmm… a pipe or something like that, maybe?" Hodgins tipped his head as he postulated the new idea.
"Possibly. Without the actual skull…" Brennan shrugged, frowning her dislike of having to work with nothing but the X-rays. Cam nodded understanding, commiserating with her slightly after having to deal with the findings of a medical examiner's reports instead of a body.
Wendell put another X-ray up on the viewing screen and pointed at areas as he spoke, "There are also signs of fracturing on the ramus and mandible…here on the right side of the skull, as well as bone bruising around the zygomatic bone that are more likely to have been caused by a fist…or possibly an elbow."
Brennan handed him another set of X-rays, and Wendell added them to the ones he already had hanging. These showed the bones of the victim's upper body, and Wendell pointed as Brennan spoke, "There are also fractures on the seventh, eighth and ninth ribs on the left side, and a clean break on the tenth rib."
"So…broken ribs, a broken jaw, fractured eye socket…" Hodgins eyed the damage before turning his gaze on the rest of the group. "Basically, somebody beat the crap out of this guy." Hodgins's drawl drew a raised eyebrow from Cam and a slightly disgruntled look from Angela.
"Yes." Brennan acknowledged his non-clinical assessment with a nod despite her dislike of the less than factual summation.
"Also," Wendell spoke up, picking up one X-ray flimsy and pointing to the damage. "We've found signs of what appears to be scoring and possibly foreign matter imbedded here, on the ilium and iliac crest, which might have been caused by the tip of a blade." His glance fell expectantly to Hodgins.
Ever loathe to disappoint, Hodgins spoke up, mordant wit in his voice, "Ohhh…beaten and gut-stabbed before being shot in the head?" He tipped his head inquiringly, "Does this sound familiar to anybody?"
Despite his joking words, anger flared in the depths of his blue eyes as his gaze was involuntarily drawn across the room to the crate that was still standing near the railing. As he glanced back to his companions, he found matching wrath in every set of eyes that met his as they all considered what Booth had probably endured as well as what fate he had just barely escaped.
Cam cleared her throat, trying to break the sudden tense silence. Brennan jumped slightly at the sound before visibly collecting herself and continuing with their results, "Barring any other findings to the contrary…I would say the cause of death was the gunshot wound. It appears that the entry wound was here…just behind the external acoustic meatus on the right side of the skull. And…judging by the amount of damage, I would say that it was caused by a fairly large caliber weapon."
"One of my specimens was a .45 caliber bullet…a .45 ACP round to be precise," Hodgins broke in, drawing a nod of agreement from Brennan. "Incidentally, the choice of ammo coincides with what Bass told us about this group being pseudo-military."
Wendell nodded as he chimed in, "A lot of military and law enforcement like the Colt M1911's…"
"Ok." Nodding, Cam glanced around the table. "Everything you found confirms what I could get from the autopsy report. Their M.E. says that our subject had internal injuries consistent with being badly beaten and kicked or stomped. Numerous cuts and superficial stab wounds, as well as a fairly deep stab wound low on the abdomen…" she nodded an acknowledgment of Wendell and his most recent X-ray. She sighed and looked at her group with resignation.
Wendell gave her a long, pointed stare before voicing the thought that was on everyone's minds, "So, basically, we just found out everything that we already knew…someone beat this guy up, stabbed him, and then shot him in the head."
"Well…yes." Cam grimaced, unhappy and frustrated with the lack of progress.
"Great." Hodgins's drawled sarcasm made Cam grit her teeth as she turned to him with a glare.
"So…have you found anything on the victim's clothing that might shed some light for us?" Cam's tight-lipped smile dared the entomologist to make another wisecrack.
Hodgins eyed her warily before carefully making, for him, the most prudent response, "I've gotten a few samples of fibers that look to be from car upholstery…I'm running them through the databases now."
He shrugged and added, "Also, I found some particulates on his clothing that I need to finish analyzing—a couple of species of grass and some other plant material and pollen that might help identify where he'd been. I was about ready to start on his shoes when you called us up here." Impatience was evident in both Hodgins's tone and in his expression as he looked at her expectantly.
Cam sighed. "Okay, keep working on it and let me know if you find something else," She nodded her understanding of his impatience, but stopped him before he could disappear off of the platform, "But before you go, I wanted to run something past you. I found something odd..."
Hodgins's eyes lit up with keen interest. "Odd. I like odd…" He stepped forward as Cam turned away to one of the computers.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Cam muttered softly, but loud enough to be heard. Jack smirked in response even as he came up to stand next to her. Angela, Wendell, and Brennan moved around the lab table so that they could all see the monitor.
Cam explained as she waited for the computer to pull up the correct file. "The M.E.'s report mentioned this, and he had no explanation for it. I re-checked the tissue sample myself and verified his findings as best I could…" She sighed as she scowled and informed them, "The sample has been badly degraded…there's not much I could get from it."
The computer screen flashed with data, scrolling past quickly until Cam clicked the mouse. It stopped, and she pointed at an area on a displayed chest scan. "Our victim was suffering from pulmonary edema…"
"What…wait…that's fluid in the lungs, right?" Angela frowned in question and then gave a slight smile as Cam nodded acknowledgement.
Brennan peered inquisitively at the screen while Hodgins's eyebrows raised in question then drew down in a frown. "Heart attack?" He questioned the cause quietly.
"No." Cam shook her head. "According to the report, there was no indication of damage to the heart. There was, however, a great deal of inflammation of the lung tissue." Cam made a few rapid clicks of the mouse and a new screen popped up, displaying a colorful chart.
"This is what a tox screen from the lung tissue gave me. See, here and here…" She pointed to two areas of the screen where white spiked lines stood out from the rest.
"Yeah…" Hodgins leaned in closer, his brow furrowing in thought. Behind him, Brennan tipped her head, scanning the data and unconsciously mirrored his frown.
Wendell blinked in puzzlement and glanced at Angela who lifted a shoulder with a totally bewildered expression on her face. The both looked back as Hodgins leaned closer to the screen and grunted querulously. "Huh…"
"Nitrogen…hydrogen…" Hodgins mused aloud, his voice quietly speculative, "This looks almost like…." He raised an eyebrow, glancing over his shoulder first at Brennan and then at Cam in bemused conjecture, "Possibly…NH3? The anomalies are making it hard to tell…but maybe…ammonia?
"Why…" Brennan met his gaze, thoughtfully asking, "Would he have ammonia in his lungs?"
Hodgins shrugged and made a face, not willing to speculate. A brief silence fell between them all, filled with traded glances of question and confusion. Then Angela contributed hesitantly, "I know…if you mix ammonia and bleach…it can make a poisonous gas…"
She smiled uncertainly at the other four as they all turned to pin her with steady stares. She lifted a hand dismissively, feeling foolish and almost ready to take her words back when Wendell tipped his head, considering her words.
"You're thinking…?" He lifted one eyebrow at her, encouraging her to continue.
Her voice was tentative and slightly nervous as she speculated, "Well…this guy maybe has information that our meth men want..." Her voice trailed off suggestively even as she shrugged again.
Wendell nodded slightly, toying with the idea. "They try to beat it out of him…"
Angela eyed him with expectation, "…and they don't get anywhere with the conventional means of torture…so…"
"So they use household cleaners to gas him?" Wendell frowned in reflection as he finished the idea for her. Cam and Brennan exchanged dubious looks as they considered the possibility.
Angela cringed slightly, feeling totally out of her depth. "Maybe…?"
"Could there have been residual ammonia left in the lungs if he had been exposed to a mixture of bleach and ammonia?" Angela sighed in relief as Cam's dark gaze switched from her to Hodgins, putting him on the spot instead.
"No," Hodgins flashed Angela an apologetic smile and a wink, softening his firm negation. Angela's face fell, but she shrugged and smiled back.
"There would be traces of chlorine…not ammonia." Hodgins fell into full lecture mode. "Household bleach has a chemical formula of NaOCl…one atom each of sodium, oxygen, and chlorine…" He darted a quick look at Angela with a smile, "Sodium hypochlorite in case you're interested."
Angela shot him a look that he had absolutely no chance of misinterpreting as interest, and Hodgins, taking note of the expression, grinned irrepressively. "Right."
He chuckled before re-launching his explanation, "Ok. Well, if you mix ammonia, which is NH3 by the way…" He winked at Angie, bringing a faint smile to her face. "One atom of nitrogen and three hydrogen…with sodium hypochlorite, it causes a reaction that liberates the chlorine gas from the bleach."
"So…" Hodgins shook his head, "It would be chlorine gas, not ammonia that he'd…" He broke off frowning. His eyes grew distant, his thoughts obviously elsewhere as the rest of the Jeffersonian team waited for him to continue.
Oblivious to them, Hodgins turned to stare at the computer screen, a low mutter breaking from him as he scowled at the data, "Ammonia…"
Cam waited for a long moment waiting for something else to follow that one-word utterance. When Hodgins continued to blink owlishly at the screen, lost to the other people in the room, she sighed and turned away. "Ok…well…while you're thinking about it…" She caught Angela's smile at the exasperated comment and joined her in an eye-roll.
The strident ring of Brennan's cell phone made four of the five people jump. Brennan's hand dove into the pocket of her lab coat and pulled the phone out, flipping it open in one fluid move as she answered it, "Brennan. Yes. Yes, thank you for calling."
Eyes bright, she glanced around the lab table as she absently dropped the phone back into her pocket. "That was the hospital."
Her words brought her expectant glances from everyone, including Hodgins who turned away from the computer readout with a questioning glance. Angela watched, hiding her own smile as Brennan's expression softened into pleased expectation and she started unbuttoning her lab coat.
"Booth's awake." The words were abrupt, but filled with a quiet rush of happiness that even Brennan's habitual calm couldn't hide.
Even Cam couldn't resist smiling as she watched the normally reserved Dr. Temperance Brennan strip off her lab coat in record time. Her voice was warm and a bit amused as she quietly told Brennan, "Tell the big guy hi for us." She glanced around the room, "We'll come by and see him a little later."
"I will." Already on the move, Brennan snagged her purse from a nearby stool and dropped her lab coat in its place. Swift steps carried her towards the stairs. Halfway there, she spun on her heel and continued walking backwards as she remembered to ask, "Oh. I almost forgot…Hodgins, did you find anything useful on Booth's clothing?"
Jack watched her with a grin, but shook his head, "Sorry, Dr. B. I haven't gotten to it yet. I'll let you know if I find…"
"Yes. Fine." Brennan didn't wait for the full explanation. Instead, she spun back around just in time to avoid going down the stairs backwards and was halfway down the flight as her final words drifted back to them on an echo in the large room, "Thank you."
Four chuckles followed her departure as she sailed full-tilt out of the glass doors and disappeared down the hallway. Cam sighed, shaking her head at the three soppy smiles that were still watching where Brennan had disappeared.
"Alright." She injected a note of bossy camaraderie into her words, "Let's see if we can find anything else…"
"Right." Hodgins yanked his eyes from the entrance and turned to Angela and Wendell, "You two wanna give me a hand?"
"Sure." Wendell was quick to jump forward and join him.
Angela, on the other hand, eyed him warily. "You don't have anything icky and gross that you're gonna make me look at, do you?"
Hodgins's only answer was a wide smile and a 'who me' lift of his eyebrows. With a sigh, Angela followed both men across the lab.